Friday, 23 May 2014

This was our second time in Sydenham Hill Wood where a group of nature play enthusiasts meet up regularly throughout the whole year, come rain or shine.

Szymek was also there and we started off with some snacks which included grapes, raisins and my favourite sugar snaps.

What makes a good entertainer? Ask Szymek.

Then it was time to explore the woods.

We discovered things on the way.

We tried to go over and under.

After Szymek was gone, we were joined by Oskar and his mum. We all bumped into each other at a baby cafe in Woolwich a few months ago and have met a few times since.

Our mummies let us move through the forest on our own so we could focus on free play and developing important skills. It wasn't always easy and sometimes even impossible but just being able to practise log climbing by ourselves felt wonderful as well as powerful! This is exactly what uninterrupted play is about.

We liked it so much in the woods that we stayed behind maybe a little too long and therefore, we experienced our first storm on the way back. There was lightning and you could hear thunder not far away but we were not scared.

And then came the puddles and the wellies. We wanted to stay there forever.

Sunday, 18 May 2014

Did you make good use of the nice weather this weekend? We did! Notice the difference in clothing before and after.

That's Box Hill in Surrey two weeks ago. It was sunny but very windy! Daddy's riding up the hill with a baby in a trailer was a true achievement.

Over a week ago by the pond in our local park. I was wearing an anorak! Can you spot the duck?

Last Monday on our terrace. It was sunny-cloudy-rainy but warm enough to practise yoga there. There were four mums and five toddlers altogether so it was a bit maniac. I was helping mummy of course.

Today in the park. It was boiling hot so we were all barefoot. Grass feels great. By the way, mummy was wearing a garland she made for me to wear at May Fair at a local school. We went there this morning and I wore the garland the whole ... two seconds.

My favourite words are "mama" and "tata" of course. :-) However, I've been adding more and more words to the list in the last few weeks. If I like the sound of the word, I will try to repeat it my way. You can only imagine how much my parents love these attempts. I have grouped my newly learnt vocabulary by category. Oh, and by the way, you will understand this post better if you can speak Polish. Sorry!

People

When Nan pays us a visit or when we chat on Skype, I call her "baba" and she is very chuffed. When I see children, I say "dzici", which sounds almost like dzieci, the Polish word for "children". I also
like to pronounce my neighbour's name, Maya. It's a lot of fun to see
her on the balcony nearly every day or go for a walk in the park
together.

Objects

A banana is also "baba", a car is "ato", an eye is "ako", shoes are "tap tap" and poo is "kapka". iPads and iPhones are "apa". You know we cycle a lot, right? One of my favourite words and objects is "kak" (kask - helmet). As we have houmous every week, I learnt to say "cieciecie" for cieciorka (chickpeas).

Sound words

Action words

I say "ap" all the time when I want someone to open something for be, be it a box, a door or a wallet. My parents have absolutely no idea where I got it from, nor do I.

English words

I have said a couple of those as well. :-) When we were visiting Charlotte's grandparents, they had bird feeders outside the b&b so we saw birds there all the time. People were saying "birds" a lot and so I tried to copy them with "bir". Our room was upstairs and we had to go downstairs a few times daily. While climbing down the stairs, I was saying "dow" with every step. And then there is "Row Row Row Your Boat", the well-known nursery rhyme: